


Resistance

by weaselett



Category: Ant-Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 09:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20468807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/pseuds/weaselett
Summary: Sometimes you just want to be able to make your own choices.Your own mistakes.And sometimes, just maybe,  a better solution than the one you were meant to accept.





	Resistance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TiaNaut](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiaNaut/gifts).

The truth was, Scott had never really regretted it, never really thought anything of it.

People did it all the time, right?

They weren’t the only ones to buck the system. No really, they weren’t, he’d talked to people. 

It was just that, well, The Corporation liked to make people think that _they_ had the answer, that everyone would be blissfully happy if they just listened to the corporation. 

The Algorithm knew what was best. Your heart was a liar. 

Or something like that. He tended to lose focus a little whenever the commercials started. 

The only problem really, as far as he was concerned, was that you couldn’t marry anyone but who The Algorithm said you should marry. 

So him and Maggie, no matter how much they wanted to, just couldn’t get married. Because The Algorithm said so. 

Which sucked. But you know, they loved each other, could afford a nice house. It was fine. 

They weren’t alone. There were plenty of people who didn’t go along with The Algorithm. 

It didn’t make them stand out. 

No matter what Maggie’s parents said. 

-

“Do you ever wonder.” Maggie asked, head resting on his chest as he pressed a hand against her belly, feeling the baby move. 

“Wonder what?”

Maggie snorted, shifted just a little so she could look at his face. “Scott.”

Scott laughed, pressing a kiss to her hair, “Nope. I got you, and I love you.”

“Even though The Algorithm says you shouldn’t?”

Scott shook his head, sighed, “It doesn’t tell us who to love Mags, just who we should marry. That’s totally different.”

Maggie huffed, shifted again almost in time with the baby. “That’s not what my parents think.”

Scott rolled his eyes, “Your parents have never liked me, that’s all. Plus, they buy into the marriage equals undying perfect love and happiness thing.” 

Maggie squeezed his arm, and didn’t point out why he feels different. Thus illustrating exactly why The Algorithm could go to hell as far as Scott was concerned. Maggie was his person, no matter what their coding might say. 

The baby pressed against his hand and wriggled clearly agreeing. 

Scott smiled, yup, everything was great, everything was perfect. Marriage really wasn’t that big a deal. Love was the important thing, and they had all of that they could ever want. 

-

Baby Cassie had been everything they’d dreamed of, everything he’d wanted and his job with Vista Corp was paying well. Everything really was great, they were happy. 

Even if Maggie parents were a bit relentless. 

But then, then there was the slow dawning of light. The realisation that his bosses, the corporation for whom he worked, were a bunch of lying, thieving ass holes. They were sitting on so much money, overcharging customers so much. 

Thus proving why you really shouldn’t trust any corporations. 

Reporting it had been an easy choice, even as Maggie’s lips thinned and Cassie giggled in her playpen, completely unaware of what was going down. (He felt a little bad about it, she was still so small, his peanut, but she would understand. One day.)

Losing his job for being an honest man, having the agent who’d been assigned the case make a dry comment about Maggie maybe learning why she should have followed The Algorithm, it was a good push in totally a terrible direction (in hindsight)

He didn’t want to know what Maggie had thought when the police had turned up, when she’d been told what he’d done. He’d sent a text, just after he’d finished uploading all the data, after he’d refunded everyone he could trace. 

He hugged Cassie extra hard that morning. 

What he hadn’t been expecting, was to be sat in an interview room for hours, chained to the table with only a jug of water for company. 

Sure, he’d done something illegal, they’d caught him post swimming pool and all. He wasn’t denying it. 

Why wasn’t he in a cell already?

The suit who walked into the room was a surprise, the briefcase telling. 

Scott knew that logo. 

Nothing good could possibly come out of this. 

-  
It would be a lie if he didn’t admit, to himself, in his head, that they guy wasn’t too bad to look at.

He was, however, a cop and clearly unimpressed with the situation in which he had found himself. 

There were very good odds, Scott thought, that this Jim Paxton guy was just as sceptical of The Algorithm’s wisdom as he was. Maybe. 

“You committed a serious crime.” Paxton was pacing. It was getting a little hypnotic. Mostly, probably, due to the lack of sleep, or food. 

Yeah, that was it. 

“For the right reasons.”

“That,” Paxton pointed at him, clearly still aggravated, “does not make it legal.”

“The right reasons.”

The pacing stopped, and those wide, wide shoulders slumped. It made him feel a little bad, like when Maggie gave him one of those looks….the lack of sleep might just have been an issue. 

“When, exactly did you sleep last?” The guy actually looked worried, which was a switch. 

“Like, hours ago, sometime just before I last ate in fact.” Scott smiled up at his not unattractive corporation approved cop. 

Cop, Paxton, sighed, did a half dance on the spot and then headed for the door. Scott had literally had dates in high school that had lasted longer. 

The Algorithm could suck it. 

-

Waking up in his own bed to Maggie’s worried face was both better and worse than he had dreamed. 

Not prison was good, but the apparent price of not prison, he wasn’t really sold. 

“Mags...”

Maggie shook her head, cutting him off, “There’s an SFPD cop asleep in our guest room.”

Scott froze, trying to remember anything after the interrogation room and coming up with a weird selection of images. Apparently being sleep deprived and hungry was worse than being drunk. 

“I…..it’s….”

“He’s your match.” Maggie slumped back onto the bed beside him, limp, and not looking at him. 

“Mags, you know I love you.”

“And either you marry him and he acts as your jailer, or you don’t, and you go to jail.” Maggie went on, as through Scott hadn’t even spoken, voice just a little flat. 

“I’m really sorry.” 

There wasn’t much else he could say, not that she would want to hear. Not after everything.

“You don’t always make the best choices.” Maggie turned her head to look at him, just as Cassie started yelling from the next room. Their daughter really did have amazing timing. 

“They normally turn out for the best.” Scott started to shift, trying to untangle himself from the sheets, only for Maggie to hold out a hand to stop him. 

“It’s ok, I got her, you just, take some time. Consider your next step.” Maggie winced as Cassie shifted pitch, “Consider your choices.” She dropped a kiss onto his forehead, “Later, we talk.”

“When there’s less screaming.” Scott agreed and failed to roll out of range of Maggie’s hand in time. He totally deserved it anyhow. 

-

It wasn’t a hard choice. 

It felt like it should be, but it wasn’t. Prison meant Cassie didn’t get to see her dad every day, prison meant being away from Maggie. He’d done a bad thing, legally, and had expected to be punished. 

He could totally accept the not horrible Paxton as that punishment. Plus, you know, it wasn’t like he _had_ to sleep with the guy. 

There was just the one, single, small, requirement test. (Which Maggie didn’t entirely approve of, but understood and kinda agreed with. So Scott was taking it.)

Scott settled himself and Cassie in front of the guest room door, motley crew of toys scattered across the corridor. 

Cassie was waving a bear especially enthusiastically as the door opened, so it wasn’t really a surprise when it managed to smack Paxton in the head. His girl had an impressive arm. 

“That’s an interesting greeting.” Paxton eyed the bear, while Scott eyed him. Only a truly heartless man would disapprove of the one eared, blind, slightly damp Mr Beer. The man’s smile was a clear sign of a test pass. “So who is this?” Paxton crouched down, holding Mr Beer out to Cassie, who was, as ever, not particularly bothered by this person her parents had obviously allowed in the house. 

“Beer!” Cassie took custody of the hostage with all required speed, giggling.

“This is Cassie.” Scott made eye contact with his new cop, “My daughter. Cassie, peanut, this is Mr Paxton.” 

Cassie titled her head back to examine Paxton solemnly, “Hello.”

-

Paxton had gone to pack a suitcase. 

Apparently they had hauled him out of bed and straight to the precinct without explaining anything the night before. He’d known about Scott’s crime, he’d been in the group that turned up to arrest him after all. He just hadn’t known that Scott was his assigned match. 

Assigned husband. Whatever. 

Clean clothes and supplies had been needed, and Scott was stuck in the house anyhow, thanks to the tag around his ankle. They hadn’t formally agreed to anything yet after all. 

It might, by most standards, be a forced marriage, but they totally had a choice. 

Well, to Scott’s mind Paxton had more choice, but whatever. 

Cassie was passed out on the couch, which gave him and Maggie a chance to talk talk. 

“So, what do you think?” Scott wrapped his hands around his coffee mug, watching as Maggie added a little more sugar to hers then lent against the worktop on the other side of the kitchen. Rarely a good sign.

“He seems like a nice enough guy, you could do worse.” 

Scott sighed, “Mags, you know that I love you, so much.”

Maggie shook her head, “I am not questioning that, when have I ever questioned that? It’s just, he’s your match, and you have to marry him or go to jail.”

“He might not agree to it.” Scott pointed out and Maggie rolled her eyes.

“Scott, he didn’t have to come here last night, he could have said no to them then. I mean, he’s a _cop_ and you’re the guy he arrested yesterday. And yet, he didn’t.” Maggie raised her eyebrows. 

“Obviously, he believes in the whole match thing.” Scott hated those words even as they came out. It wasn’t fair. 

“Obviously,” Maggie’s tone took on a teasing note, “you aren’t entirely opposed to him.”

Scott blushed, “He’s a good looking guy, and he’s good with Cassie.”

Maggie’s smile softened, “Yes he is.” 

Scott eyed her for a long moment, considering the possibilities, thinking about how she had reacted to Paxton. Thinking about some of the conversations they’d had, years ago, before Cassie. “I saw you watching him go.”

Maggie froze, eyes widening just a little, mug half way to her mouth. “Scott.”

“This could work for _all_ of us.” 

Maggie frowned, “What if I want to check to see who my match is?”

Scott felt himself tense, even though he knew her better than that. “That’s your choice, and I won’t stand in your way...just….”

“I would never take Cassie away from you.” Maggie’s voice was firm, and her smile gentle, “Anyway, they told me last night, whether I wanted to know or not. Turns out, I am one of those who The Algorithm struggles to match.” She rolled her eyes and Scott lent back. 

“You totally need to tell your parents that.”

Maggie gave him that look. 

-

The plan, while the paperwork was being finalised, and their wedding planned by people who weren’t them, was simple. 

They were going to make the best out of a bad situation, and woo Paxton, Jim, into their bed. 

With both of them. 

They took it slow, worked out what he liked, how he liked it, tried to figure out if he would be interested. 

It was a lot of work, but Scott was sure it would be worth it. 

Especially after walking in on Paxton in the shower. Seeing the guy naked on a regular basis was not something he was at all opposed to. 

Maggie was the one to woo with cooking. She was the best cook, and Paxton clearly appreciated it, and after a difficult start, Scott was pretty sure they worked past the cop and bad guy place they’d started at. 

But then, Paxton seemed to be one of the serious Algorithm romantics. 

Which was kinda cute. 

A good dinner, Cassie sound asleep in her room, and they worked Paxton to the couch, bracketing him in between them. Careful not to push too hard. 

Only, they had totally been made.

“You two think you’re subtle huh?” Paxton, Jim, shifted reaching out to pull Maggie closer even as he pressed back against Scott. A surprising move for so early. 

“Scott does.” Maggie replied, before she kissed Jim. 

Scott froze, brain skipping as he watched. Damn. 

Paxton pulled away first, turned to Scott, reaching out to press a hand to his cheek, “You want in?”

The smile, the smile was amazing, and really, who could resist that invitation?


End file.
